Movie Review: Table No. 21

Paresh Rawal is convincing as the hardnosed host and keeps you riveted to the game show.

What's not:

There aren't enough or intelligent planting in the narrative for a gratifying payoff in the climax.

iDiva verdict:

Table No. 21 is like having a decent dinner but not being sure if it will be followed by an as much delicious desert. If you are fine with a feast like this, go ahead and book the table.

EDITOR'S RATING:

We have seen Rajeev Khandelwal posing personal and predicament-inducing questions to participants in his TV game show Sach Ka Samna. Here, he is on the other side of the testament table with a more animated and entertaining host in the form of Paresh Rawal.

Vivaan (Rajeev Khandelwal) is jobless. But he can afford to take his wife (Tena Desae) for a holiday to the exotic Fiji Islands! They travel business class, check in a swanky resort and he even buys her pearl necklaces!! Thereafter the couple meets an entrepreneur, Mr. Khan (Paresh Rawal) who offers them Rs. 21 crores if they agree to participate in a game show, which will be webcast live to millions of viewers across the globe.

With every question they answer correctly, they get to do a task. And with every accomplished task, they are paid in crores. As the stakes increase, the questions get more caustic, the task gets more difficult and the money just gets better.

With the game show format that the film largely follows, it might appear that Table No. 21 is an offshoot of reality shows like Sach Ka Samna and Bigg Boss. But at the end ofit you realise that the film is thematically reminiscent of the Imran Khan-Sanjay Dutt starrer Kidnap (2008) and rather literally evocative of the lesser-known Ravi Kishan starrer Chitkabrey (2011).

To its merit, the film comes to the point quite quickly and (if you overlook an obligatory bikini-clad song to justify the Fiji beaches) the game show initiates by the end of first reel itself. The chemistry between the couple is buildup through flashbacks which follows after every question and is tested through tasks which follows after every answer. With the upsurge of reality based game shows on the small screen in recent years, it is easy to relate to the film but at the same time the shock value is missing thanks to the over-exposure of the format.

What seems silly however is that for such exorbitant prize money, the couple doesn't even have the slightest of doubts and are so carried away that they don't even bother to crosscheck on the rules or read the fine print. Moreover the host surprisingly seems to have complete knowledge of the couple's closed-door conversations, which reflects in the game. The questions in the game are relatively generic, yet there is a defined flashback track validating each. Plus the film employs clichéd conflicts of abortion to adultery to incite friction between the couple.

However the film takes a complete about turn towards the climax where the bigger revelation happens. But in doing so, it also switches genre with a subplot that is totally tangential to the central plot. There aren't enough or intelligent planting in the narrative for a gratifying payoff in the climax. Its impact is like getting to know that the killer in a murder-mystery was never a part of the film in the first place. Also at the end you realise that the film starts with a misleading prologue and ends without a resolving epilogue, taking the easy way out.

Despite the loopholes, the film works largely because of some decent performances. Paresh Rawal is convincing as the hardnosed host and keeps you riveted to the game show. Rajeev Khandelwal puts in an earnest act as the participant whose tension, confusion and quandary increases in every stage of the game. Tena Desae puts in a confident act as the co-contestant and is bold enough to go bald intermittently. At instances, her façade resembles that of Genelia D'Souza. Hanif Hilal is just relegated to the backdrop in capacity of a bouncer and has no line to mouth in the film. Dhruv Ganesh is good in his short role.

Table No. 21 is like having a decent dinner but not being sure if it will be followed by an as much delicious desert. If you are fine with a feast like this, go ahead and book the table.